Hope & Despair: A Magi Tale
by kingxana0
Summary: Years ago the world fell to the Despair Magi Junko Enoshima, with all hints of resistance systematically destroyed. Now it stands to one average Magi to play a game to decide the fate of the world. Hope or Despair, in the end only one can rule.
1. Ruins of Hope

For as long as history had been recorded the land of Truth has been ruled over by the Council of Magi, the strongest mages in the world. Together they regulated how magic could be used, what creatures could be summoned from the ether, and ultimately how the world would be run. For many years the Council was fair and just, and the land and people flourished at their work. But as time went by the Council realized that their age was catching up to them, and they needed to train those who would come after them. To this end the first Magi Academy was created and given the name 'Hopes Peak' to represent their will. For many ears Hopes Peak trained the greatest Magi in the land, many of whom would ascend to the Council and help govern the world.

But due to the ambitions of one Magi this all came crashing down. Junko Enoshima, who had gained entry to Hopes Peak due to her unique and amazing skills of Creation, with the exact subset of Fabric. She had managed to enchant a simple shirt that could withstand even the harshest of spells and remain without a single scratch. Once she entered into the Academy however her true talents began to blossom, the power to bring Despair to those around her. She became like a weed among the garden, strangling the life of the plants around her to feed into her power and crushing all who stood in her way.

After a full year of her attendance at the Academy her plan was revealed in a spectacular manner. During her time she had managed to twist the minds and wills of twelve of the brightest students that had ever attended the Academy, turning them into her Acolytes of Despair. Under her guidance the thirteen students opened a rift between the moral world and the darkest reaches of the ether, and summoned forth a dark spirit of immeasurable power. Using the despair she had created Junko chained the creatures to her will and used it to begin the Most Despair Inducing Event of History. A dark cloud grew over the world as a new creation took place of both the sun and moon, the Monokuma Eclipse.

With her power increased to new heights Junko and her minions waged a war on the entire world, leading armies of dark spirits and monsters across the lands until all were forced to bow before her might. When the final kingdom bent their knee she performed a grand spell and ripped a massive chunk of the planet upward and built herself a castle so she might rule those under her, and all would look up and know despair.

Not all had lost hope however, the surviving members of the Council brought together the last class of Magi in the Academy and for a year they hide themselves behind the walls of the Academy and trained. Fearing the threat they might raise against her Junko and her armies marched on the Academy once more. But against the protections of the Academy and the final students her army was near useless, with even her Acolytes proving useless. It seemed like the world could have hope once more, even if it was only the hope that she could be held off.

But then Junko revealed her two trump cards, the first being the Izuru Kamukura, an omnitalented mage that had once been said to be the strongest Magi ever taught before in Hopes Peak. The second was a traitor among the final class, who shattered the protection from within the walls and let the armies of despair spill forth. The final Council member was laid low by Junko and her forces, and the last class stood surrounded on all sides by immeasurable odds. All seemed lost, until a miracle. The students gathered together their power and cast a spell that would send them forward in time, so that they might regroup and fight another day.

It has been now eight months since that final battle, and now the world teeters on the brink of utter despair and sorrow.

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Ruins of Hope**

Makoto woke up and immediately regretted doing so as his entire body seemed to light up as a single point of pain. He opened his mouth to scream but found that he couldn't even form a sound past the agony that wracked his form. And then all at once the pain stopped, and he found himself laying down on a cold stone floor in a pitch dark room. Even after the pain had disappeared the young man was left gasping for breath in a near desperate attempt to block the memory of the pain he had just experienced away.

After a few moments of silent reflection the young man let out a soft breath and slowly pulling himself into a sitting position, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness for a moment before trying to remember what had happened. The last thing that he remembered with perfect clarity was being surrounded by the hundreds upon hundreds of Monokuma Shades as the defenses they had spent months setting up failed to hold off a force of their size. He remembered the grinning face of Junko Enoshima as she gave the order for the entire class to be executed as enemies of the world.

Then a flash of light as a rift in reality was created, a final hope to flee and fight again another day. It was a gamble to open something as unstable as a rift in time, but it was the only element that Junko couldn't have predicted that they would use, as most Magi who tried messing with the flow of time usually ended up in ten pieces across ten different time periods.

Makoto realized that his own arrival no doubt meant that his friends would be arriving as well, and quickly brought himself to his feet. "Guys we made it!" he called out, looking around and trying to spot them through the darkness. When he didn't receive a response a worried look passed over his face. "Kyouko, Sayaka, Byakuya...Yasuhiro?" he looked around and felt his stomach drop as he realized that he was the only person inside of the room.

Worry began to infect his mind, the thought of his friends being trapped still within the vortex of time twisted a knot into his stomach. He began to pace around the dark room, trying to see what he could find within the the dark room. In his blind wanderings he was able to feel out a stone table at what he could guess was the center of the room, carved as a circle with twelve chairs around it.

The moment he touched the table hundreds of lanterns sprang to life around the room and a figure appeared at the center or the table, wearing an insane smile and a crown upon her head stood Junk Enoahima, the Despair Witch. "Nice of you to finally join us back in the real world, a fine hello to you my former classmate," the girl gave a small bow before looking up with a twisted smile that revealed an almost inhumanly long tongue hanging from her mouth. "I mean come the hell on you keep your rightful queen waiting for eight whole months, the shit man?" She laughed madly and winked.

Makoto took a step back and reached to his side before remembering that he didn't have the Focus he used to cast his spells. "Traitor." despite his fear Makoto wouldn't give the monster in front of him the satisfaction of seeing him break.

A look of utter sadness came over Junko's face, her hands going to her long hair. "Oh such a harsh word, and here I brought you a present," she waved her free hand and a black and grey pistol appeared on the table in front of Makoto.

The young man looked at the gun for a moment, trying to measure his odds of getting the weapon before Junko could do something to kill him. The odds were not in his favor on that point. "Don't mess with me, why are you here?!"

Junko looked at him for a moment before sighing. "Like honestly?" she asked in a valley girl like drawl. "I am totally freaking bored out of my skull, thats why!"

"Uh..." Makoto was at a loss of words. "What?"

"For the past eight months I have had my people pull your guys out of the time steam, I was planning on just killing the lot of you and taking a nap but then I realized something," she snapped her fingers, bringing up a map of the country with thirteen red points dotted across it. "I rule basically everything, people can't really go much deeper into despair because despair has become the new normal for these assholes, even if I just randomly start executing children the people will just breath a sigh of relief and go on with their average despair. I want a despair so powerful that people can't wake up from their dreams because of it!"

Makoto was forced to take a step back from the pure insanity of what she was telling him. "Killing all these people, taking over, and you are bored?" what god had been angered to the point of allowing someone so insane to have so much power?

"Yeah, do try and keep up Naegi I would hate to have to repeat myself for your benefit," Junko let out another insane laugh before continuing. "So I want to make you a super tempting and despair inducing offer, I want to challenge the 'Luck of the Draw' mage to a World Wide Mass Mutual Murder Game!"

"Why the hell do you think I would ever, ever agree to something like that?" he demanded, eyes filled with determination. "I would rather die then to let you use me like a pawn."

"But would you let your friends die?" she asked innocently.

The entire world stopped for Makoto for a moment as she brought up his friends. "You're lying, the time stream..."

"Oh yes that little snag in my plans, under normal circumstances I wouldn't have been able to do anything, but you must have forgot that my little weapon is omnitalented, that means even if you try and run between the folds of time I will be able to fish you out eventually, just like I did with your friends, one by one picking them out and walling up their memories, for the past eight months they have gotten to live in my perfectly despair infused world without a single memory of their times at Hopes Peak," she summoned a handkerchief from thin air and made a show of drying her eyes. "Awful, just awful."

Makoto clenched his fist tight and glared toward the madwoman in front of him, wishing beyond any reasonable hope that his gaze would set her on fire so long as he glared at her long enough. "Fine," he muttered, lowering his head before her. "How do I play?"

A sadistic grin came over her face. "Thats much better, the rules are pretty simple, wouldn't want your brain to explode yet would we?" she snapped her fingers and above the thirteen red lights appears the names of his friends, with the exception of Kyouko Kirigiri, who was placed within Junko's flying castle. "The game is simple, you pick which one of your friends so save and a portal will be opened in order to send you there, find your friend and defeat the ruler of the kingdom and you get to keep your friend, then when you feel ready come and meet me, and I will stamp out the remains of your pathetic hope once and for all."

The deal that was offered to him was too good to be true, and he doubted the witch of despair would just let something like that go without adding a horrifying twist on it. "And thats all?"

A finger went to her lips as if trying to recall something. "Oh thats right, during the time taken to help the friend you choose I will randomly select another one of your friends and put a bounty on their heads, my soldiers and Monokuma won't do anything, but that doesn't mean that some ordinary person looking for a reward won't slip the knife in for me," her overly long tongue came out of her mouth as Junko cackled once more. "Isn't it just the height of despair?"

"You got that wrong!" Makoto shouted out, pointing toward her. "The game won't create despair at all!"

"What?" the witch asked, looking toward the young man.

"If they are being hunted by a whole city without any memories of their training then there is no doubt they will end up dying, in the end there won't be any despair, just acceptance of the rules," he knew that trying to appeal to a madwomans logic was akin to dancing along a hall of daggers, but if there was any chance to protect his friends he had to take it. "It would be more fair to let someone else try to help them while I was busy fighting against your minion."

For a moment the witch pondered his rule addition. "Well to be honest I don't really give a damn about being fair, but the idea of seeing the look of utter despair upon realizing that your friend failed to protect them is just too damn good to give up, fine pick your player two and lets get on with this."

There wasn't a moment of hesitation in his mind as he pointed toward Kyouko's picture above the floating castle. "Kyouko Kirigiri, I choose the Magi of Law."

A look of surprise went over Junko's face. "Really now, rough and tumble Kirigiri is your first pick for who to save, not one of your innocent little classmates who could be clubbed to death by a bloodthirsty crowd like baby seals?"

"I picked her because I know she is strong enough to protect them." if there was anyone who could make a crowd back down with just a look it was definitely Kyouko, in that at least he had utter faith.

Junko simply shrugged and summoned a small scepter to her hand, the head of which depicted a bears head with one side of it being white and the other black. "Whatever, but since we are apparently being all fair and shit I should mention about the whole memory loss," her voice went back to her cool and calculating tone. "Because it would be impossible to truly remove all memories a person has without destroying their mind I have put a mental block around the years of memory that you and your friends shared at Hopes Peak. A strong enough trigger memory will shatter the barrier and allow the memories to return, so before you fight my acolytes I would suggest you make sure they remember, else it won't be much of a fight yah know?"

Makoto walked forward and picked up the gun from the table before giving a nod. "Challenge accepted, you are going down."

"Oh look at this, showing a bit of spine just because you got your Focus back," Junko snapped her fingers and a portal opened into the room, and out from it stepped two figures. The first was the omnimagi Izuru Kamukura, dark hair floating on unseen wind and blazing eyes looking directly through Makoto as if he didn't even exist. The second was none other then Kyouko Kirigiri, unconscious and seemingly at peace. "Well the second my pet leaves this place will be a safehouse, make sure to take enough time to figure out what your next move will be, oh and since I am sure that you probably got all rusty from sitting on your ass in a void between time for the past few months I figured I would give you a present!"

With that said the image of Junko disappeared, leaving Izuru alone with the two. "Surrender to your fate, there is no need to suffer the way you will suffer through this game." he snapped his fingers and a pitch black portal opened. Out of the portal stepped a number of black and white Monokuma creatures with long sharp blades poking from their round paws, followed by a final Monokuma who stood almost a foot taller then the others, wearing a wide brimmed hat with stars and moons etched into the design, and a scepter held in its paw somehow. "Upupupupupupupup!" the leader of the group laughed in a high pitched voice. "We have been waiting a long time to play with you mister Bottom of the Barrel, just the same as when your buddies 'played' with us."

Makoto quickly stepped in front of Kyouko and drew in a soft breath. "I won't let you hurt her." he declared simply, a light and gentle blue aura appearing around his body. This was his Magi field, the special talent Magi all had to draw in power from the ether in order to cast spells. The aura flowed down his arms and into the gun, giving it a shining quality for a moment before six clicks rang out through it and a small voice from seemingly nowhere declared 'Truth Bullets loaded, six shots.'

"Oh getting serious already are we?" the hatted Monokuma asked in a mocking tone. "Trial Field set, upupupupup." the Monokuma raised its hand and a large circular dome began to grow outward from itself, expanding past both Makoto and Kyouko, bringing them into the Trial Field zone.

Once they were inside of teh barrier the entire world seemed to have shifted, no longer were they in the stone room with a single table, but rather in a twisted nightmare land with black sand under their feet and the Monokuma moon high above looking down upon them with a smile.

The Trial Field was tool invented by powerful Magi to ensure that the battles they had wouldn't end up utterly destroying everything around them by accident, thus when a powerful enough Magi cast the Trial Field all living things surrounded by it would be pulled into a pocket dimension where conditions could be decided by that which had created it. No doubt the place they were in now was simply a generic Despair Field, rather then something unique that the Magi Monokuma had crafted. If he had been more powerful Makoto could have probably taken over with his own field, but despite all his training he had never managed to make a Trial Field manifest.

The clawed Monokuma began to advance on him, red eye glowing like the fires of hell as they approached, sharpening their claws and letting out small "Upupupup"

"The rules go as follows, destroy all enemies." The hatted Monokuma declared.

The Monokuma moon began to let loose a vicious laugh, denoting that the challenge had been accepted.

Makoto aimed carefully toward the first Monokuma and shot out three of his truth bullets, small compressed bits of his own magical field in the shape of bullets. The three shots slammed into the Monokuma's arms and head, the force of the impacts throwing the creature off its feet and onto its back. It let out a growl of pain before exploding into a featureless shadow and disappearing.

Most of the Monokuma that made up the rank and file of the Despair army were actually summons, begins made up completely of ether whose physical forms were granted by some higher being. The ether was divided into multiple subsections, some as small as islands and others large enough to fit an entire universe in, and each subsection contained a creature that ruled over it. As the Monokuma had been summoned through use of Despair magic they had been crafted by the Grand Horror, the ultimate enemy of mankind that represented all things tainted. From it all Magi who practiced despair drew power.

Despite his impressive showing with the first Monokuma Makoto knew that it was only a matter of time before the other clawed summons or the hatted Monokuma killed him. His own supply of magic didn't draw from a particular school he was forced to rely on his own power. He could normally get around that by just filing up small 'ammo packs' with his power for future use, but he hadn't traveled through with any during their escape.

"Whats wrong kid, can't keep it up?" the hatted Monokuma laughed as it pointed forward its scepter. "Kill the brat!"

The remaining five Monokuma's laughed and made leaps toward Makoto, blades descending to rend his flesh. Thankfully for the boy his reactions had been trained by the best, and his focus was brought forward and fired three more times, killing another of the Monokuma. Before the rest could finish their deadly decent Makoto summoned forth his remaining power and fired a shot at the ground, creating a barrier of translucent force around them. The Monokuma who struck it stayed in the air for a moment before the shield flashed and threw the other four summons away from them.

Knowing that his shield wouldn't last long he took a knee next to Kyouko and gently shook her shoulders. "Kind of need you to wake up here, come on come on," despite shaking her her eyes remained closed, and the Monokuma began to strike the barrier with their razor sharp claws. It only lasted a matter of moments between the four remaining creatures shattered the barrier and began their advance toward the two.

Makoto quickly stood up and spread his arms wide. "I won't let you hurt her." he said, his voice obviously scared but none the less holding himself firm before the creatures.

"Well good luck keeping that one, maul him!" the hatted Monokuma demanded.

The four summons leapt forward, claws just about to strike Makoto until something caused them to stop midair, this something being eight pairs of handcuffs attached to a long silver chain, leading back to Kyouko's prone form. "Honestly, is this the best that can be sent?" the young woman stood up with a rather bored expression on her face. "Trial Field, Takeover." the ground began to shake and rumble as the scenery changed around them, turning from a barren wasteland overlooked by the Monokuma Moon to a massive courtroom, with the judge, jury, and witness stands filled by featureless grey humanoids. Behind the judges stand rested a giant stone statue depicting a woman wearing a blindfold and holding a scale in one hand and a sword in the other. "First Law, any direct physical attacks are punishable by death." she retracted the handcuffs, reverting them to a smaller form in her hand, her Focus.

The bestial summons charged once more, before the hatted Monokuma could shout out. "No wait!"

The statue came to life, raising its sword and slashing across the four creatures and reverting them back to nothingness. "Welcome to my Trial Field, so long as we are within the halls of justice any broken law will result in swift punishment."

"You, you weren't supposed to wake up!" the final Monokuma took a step away from the two, eyes shifting back and forth. It might have been a more powerful and smarter version of the basic summon, but what knowledge it did contain was mostly toward either attack abilities or torture. It wasn't designed to fight in a arena of wit, so it would end this before any more laws could be added. The summon pointed its scepter toward them and began to gather a pitch black energy at its front. "Despair Blas-"

Before it could finish Kyouko's extendable handcuffs flashed forward again, closing around the scepter and causing the energy gathered to suddenly disappear. "Lawkeeper, so long as you or your Focus are bound by me you are unable to pull power from the ether."

The Monokuma tried again to summon power to its Focus, but what Kyouko said had been true, nothing he did seemed to have any effect. "You little bit-" before the bear could finish the statue plunged its sword into the creatures back. "Gwack!"

"Hm, verbal abuse is done physically, and is an attack on my character," Kyouko offered the bear a self satisfied grin. "To those that break the law, comes the end."

The bear gave one last hateful glare before exploding in a cloud of darkness that left nothing behind.

With the last enemy defeated the Trial Field disappeared, leaving the summons dissipated and only the hatted Monokuma remaining, but frozen. While inside a Trial Field no one could die, at the end they would simply be frozen and bound until such a time as the victor decided to release them or the loser was brought out of range. Kyouko looked at the hatted Monokuma and frowned thoughtfully. "I see, so you have enough ether to be considered as more then a summon, interesting."

Makoto looked toward the Monokuma and then to Kyouko. "So uh...what do we do this it?"

Before they could think on a solution a portal opened above it, and from it descended Izuru, garbed in a black robe and carrying a scythe in his hands, which he promptly put around Monokuma's neck. "Hm, enjoy your survival. You have only delayed the inevitable despair of death." with that said he floated back into the portal, pulling a terrified Monokuma with him.

The two looked to each other in confusion until a image appeared above the table in the middle of the room, showing Monokuma and Izuru surrounded by a massive amount of Monokuma summons, each covering their faces and crying fake tears. The words above the image were 'Game Over'.

A massive guillotine appeared around the Monokuma, pinning its neck where the blade sat with a rope to bring it down hanging right next to its left paw. Then a large booth for a puppet show appeared, with the puppets being overly cute characters expounding on the nature of hope and how wonderful being friends was. The Monokuma began to shake and shout, begging to be released as the cute puppets began to break out into a song. The Monokuma quickly reached forward and tugged down on the rope to end the torment, causing the blade to fall and cleanly sever his head and reduce it to nothingness, with only a star and moon hat falling to the ground.

"Good riddance." Kyouko muttered before turning back to Makoto.

The young man, who had mostly remained silent during the execution, suddenly moved forward and wrapped his arms around the female Magi with a bright grin. "Kyouko, that was amazing!" he laughed a bit, finally feeling the stress from the battle slowly draining out from him. It was only after a moment that he broke from the girls body and coughed, clearly embarrassed. "Wait uh...you probably don't even remember who I am do you?"

Kyouko looked at him for a moment, a light blush dusting her cheeks that was quickly enough banished. "I doubt there is a force on this planet that could make me forget you Makoto Naegi, we are partners after all."

"Wait you remember who I am?" the young man looked more confused then anything.

"I didn't at first, when Izuru first grabbed me I decided it was better to play possum and figure out what the Queen's right arm wanted with me, it wasn't until you jumped in front of me that I actually remembered. It was quite a bit like when we first met, when the rowdy swan summon was charging straight at me and you jumped in the way, through this time was a good deal more life threatening I suppose." the ghost of a smile came to her lips before being replaced by a frown. "Makoto, as you must realize the plan failed, it seems that..."

"Junko pulled us out of the time vortex, I have some things to go over with you too." with that said Makoto explained the situation, the 'game', and the rules for playing.

Kyouko closed her eyes and let out a breath of frustration. "So a game to decide the final battle between Despair and Hope, that is very much her isn't it?"

"Yeah, we need to plan our next move before..." Makoto had taken a step toward the table but almost fell, and was only able to remain upright due to Kyouko's fast reaction to his fall. "Oh yeah, might have used a bit to much energy in that fight."

"No doubt, I would imagine being dragged out of the vortex only to be thrown into a Trial Field would exhausted most Magi of your strength," despite the fact that it hadn't been meant as an insult the words still stung Makoto's pride a bit. "We should try and get some rest if we intend to survive this game."

"I don't think the stone floor is going to be that comfortable," Makoto said, looking toward the floor. As soon as he said this however the sound of stone grinding on stone could be heard loud through the room as a pathway opened to the two, revealing a small hallway with wooden doorways, each having one of their names etched into it. "Oh, well yeah that works."

"Hm, if I remember correctly this was a hub room, a place where one could travel anywhere in the Academy. Through I doubt any rooms of use would still be in good repair," Kyouko shook her head. "Regardless we should get you to your room so you can rest."

The young man gave a shake of his head, managing to pull away from Kyouko and make it to one of the chairs at the table. "First we have to decide who we are going to go after. I won't want our friends suffering for any longer then they have to." he gave the girl a determinaed look that she knew meant he wouldn't budge from the subject.

She gave a quiet sigh and shake of her head before taking a seat next to him. "Very well," she placed her hand on the table, bringing up the names and special abilities of each of their classmates.

Byakuya Togami- Heir of Togami Sacred Flame

Kiyotaka Ishimaru- Magi of Order and Morality

Mondo Owada- Magi of Rulebreaking

Leon Kuwata- Magi of Athleticism

Hifumi Yamada- Magi of Fiction/Reality

Yasuhiro Hagakure- Magi of Clairvoyance

Chihiro Fujisaki- Magi of Creation/Golem Making

Celestia Ludenberg- Magi of Fate/Gambling

Sayaka Maizono- Magi of Sound/Idol

Aoi Asahina- Elemental Magi/Water

Toko Fukawa- Magi of Fiction/Novelization

Sakura Oogami: Magi of Martial Arts

Mukuro Ikusaba: Magi of Warfare

"All of our friends," Makoto closed his eyes for a moment before looking over the various options. "I choose..."

* * *

So after reading the rules it appears that I can't actually have readers decide the order people should go after the various students. A least not on . I don't think a work around like linking to an outside polling option would be allowed either. That is quite the problem for the more interactive part of the story. Any thoughts?


	2. Bottled Despair

"...Sakura." Makoto decided, looking toward Kyouko to see if she had any qualms about his decision. He was thankful to see that she wasn't instantly going against his idea, but rather seemed to be quite thoughtful toward it.

"I see, I believe that I understand the reasoning for your decision, but regardless explain it in your own words." Kyouko was a hard nut to crack so far as her own feelings on any matter before she had all of the information. The kind of person that if given a yes or no question would answer instead with a harsh glare and terrifying silence.

"Right," Makoto got his words in order before continuing in order to avoid tripping over his own tongue. "To Junko this is all a game, and knowing her she wants to make sure the advantage is on her side the whole time. Sakura is our top fighter in terms of just straightforward destruction, if we picked someone else odds are that she would make sure Sakura died no matter how hard we tried otherwise."

"And you don't believe she will kill another one of our friends in retaliation for guessing her move?" Kyouko pondered.

Makoto shook his head, looking over the rest of their friends. "I don't think so, I mean I don't think she will put the odds one way or the other at least. She probably thinks that I would start the game going after our friends without a ton of combat abilities because I would worry. So long as we keep her off balance there is a chance that she won't make any hard pushes."

The law Magi thought over the proposal for a moment before giving a small nod of approval. "Well put, there are certain risk factors but that is why you bargained for me to have the task to protect the one she puts out the hunt for."

"Right," Makoto smiled and reached forward to put his hand over the city Sakura was held in, only to have his arm grabbed by Kyouko and held in place. "What are you-"

"I understand that you want to rescue our friends as soon as possible, but do you honestly believe you are in any condition to go out at the moment?" her gaze was hard as steel, forcing Makoto to admit his condition despite his desire to save their friends.

He looked down for a moment and gave a solemn nod. "You're right, but the idea of them suffering out there when I could save them, its too much."

"We all survived eight months before this game began, Junko won't spoil her fun by going on a killing spree right now." Kyouko stood and helped Makoto to his feet, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and letting herself bear most of his weight.

"I can walk on my own," Makoto tried to argue, but knew that despite his desire to look macho his entire body felt like it was going to collapse. "Okay, yeah, nevermind. I might need a bit of help to get to my room."

Kyouko smiled softly and opened the door into the rather spartan room and helped him lay on his bed. "I am honestly surprised, being able to act as you did directly after being freed from the vortex is impressive," she looked at him for a moment before laughing softly. "Though if we are being honest, you have never exactly known what the word 'quit' means."

Makoto blushed lightly at what he assumed was praise. "Well, it is not like giving up ever got me anywhere," for a moment there was silence between them, before Makoto worked up the nerve to ask the question that had been on the back of his mind since she had arrived. "So were you stuck in Junko's castle for the entire time that I was gone?"

The young woman was quite for a moment before giving a small nod. "Yes, I had no real memory of my time at Hope's Peak, in fact now that I look back it seems like certain other parts of my memory were changed in order to prevent me from discovering the manipulation put in place."

"Y-you weren't hurt were you?" The idea of Kyouko being put through whatever torture Junko's twisted mind could create was almost too horrid a thought to imagine.

Kyouko gave a small shake of her head. "No, I was no more harassed then any of the service staff. The hours were long and the maids outfit was a tad restrictive..."

"Maid outfit?" Makoto blurted out, looking toward Kyouko with a face that was caught between horror and humor. "You were...I mean she dressed you as..."

"A house maid, cooking, cleaning, and keeping the house," she raised an eyebrow toward the young man. "Is that of some special importance?"

"No I mean, not especially I guess..."

A hint of humor came to the Law Magi's eyes as she watched Makoto backpedal from his words. "I see, well its perfectly natural for you to take such interest I suppose."

"I-interest?" Makoto didn't like the way that she had used that word.

Kyouko gave a nod. "Yes, most men find interest in such a thing, honestly through you have done such a good job at hiding such a perverted part of your personality, even from my eye, I might need to reevaluate my opinion of your capability for dishonesty."

"You have that all wrong, I don't, I mean I wouldn't-"

"Oh I see, then perhaps it is not tied to the outfit at all, I must say I am flattered."

It didn't seem possible but Makoto's face turned an even deeper shade of red at the implication she had presented him. At this point it was all the young Magi could do but to sputter hopelessly while trying to grasp onto words that didn't seem to have any meaning to his mixed up brain.

"Mission accomplished," she suddenly stated, looking down at him. "During situations where you were teased like this before you would often seem drained of energy, I believe that after such an assault on your senses you will be unable to try anything foolish like racing off on your own."

It took a moment for her words to reach the boys mind, but once he understood what she was saying he let out a small laugh and rested his head back against the pillows. "As thoughtful and thoughtless as ever."

After that both simply sat in silence, Makoto too tired to start up a conversation and Kyouko caught deep in thought. The silence was finally broken by Kyouko. "Before you fall asleep, would you mind handing me your Focus?"

"H-huh?" he looked at the girl for a moment with a look of shock, that she would request such a thing from him. A person's Focus was tied directly to their soul, if something happened to it the loss of that chunk would be irreplaceable, and the creation of another would be painful. And that was even if they could split their soul again in order to create it.

"Trust me Makoto, just for a moment." she didn't offer a single explanation, but she wouldn't be Kyouko is she did.

With a small sigh Makoto closed his eyes and summoned the pistol into his hand, offering it to Kyouko with a small amount of reservation, only held back by the fact that he trusted her with his life.

Kyouko gave a nod and accepted the weapon before focusing her mana onto the tip of her finger and pressing it against the gun, marking it with a **実** symbol that glowed gently for a moment before fading into the weapon.

"What was that?" Makoto asked, accepting back his Focus and looking over it.

"Its called a Soul Infusion, it allows one Magi to implant a part of themselves onto anothers Focus, allowing them to have some small access to their abilities even when they aren't around," she smiled softly. "It would be irresponsible not to send you with some advantage. I imagine that you should be able to make a new kind of bullet out of it, and if the theory holds it will carry my ability to nullify others power."

"Kyouko..." Makoto looked down at his Focus, trying to wrap his mind around the responsibility she had handed him by doing what she did. A piece of her was now attached to his Focus, and if anything ever happened to it then he wouldn't be the only one to suffer something horrid. "I promise to use this gift, I am going to save all of our friends." His voice had lost its tired quality, now sounding quite a bit more determined then before.

"When you speak like that it is almost impossible to argue," she stood up and brushed down her skirt. "Rest easy Makoto, tomorrow we begin our counter attack."

"Right!" he put his Focus against his chest and the gun disappeared, refusing with his soul until it would be needed again. With that done he rested back against the bed and slowly closed his eyes, allowing himself to finally drift off to sleep.

* * *

 **Bottled Despair**

Makoto awoke the next day with a sense of purpose and a horrible case of bed head. A quick examination of the bathroom revealed the magic that kept Hope's Peak running was still working enough that the showers could produce hot water, and it only took a simply cleaning spell to bring his clothing to their best condition.

Once finished he walked out to find a rather humble meal waiting on top of the table in the center of the main room, and Kyouko already eargerly eating her own. She paused for a moment and turned to him. "It seems the food stores that we assembled here didn't go to waste during our trip through the time vortex, I would suggest eating before we begin our mission to rescue Sakura."

It wasn't difficult to get the boy to agree, his own stomach was ravenous and odds were that until he could take down whatever Despair Magi ruled over the location Sakura was being held at there wouldn't be the chance for such a good meal again. He took a seat and took the first bite of the food, only to discover something horrifying.

"K-Kyouko you didn't make this yourself did you?" he asked, looking down and finally seeing the food. Each dish seemed to have been unique in the way that it was made unappetizing, to the point where even the bread was caught in a limbo of not being toasted enough on one half and being burned on the other. Makoto's face turned green as he quickly drank down a glass of orange juice that was possibly the only thing that hadn't been ruined.

"I did actually, I have cooked for myself since a very young age in fact, through you are the first to actually sample my cooking for yourself." she took another bite and if it was possible Makoto's face turned a deeper shade of green.

She really must be strong if she can eat this with a straight face. Not wishing to hurt her feelings Makoto quickly devoured the rest of the food, making sure to use the orange juice to get rid of the awful flavor that the food came with before letting out a sigh. At the very least he was full.

Kyouko finished her own meal and snapped her fingers, causing their used plates and cups to vanish into nothingness as they looked over the board once more. "So then, shall we?"

"Right," Makoto summoned the map with each of their friends and reached forward toward Sakura's image. "Wish me luck."

Kyouko responded with a nod, watching as Makoto touched the image and vanished. The moment he did another of the images turned a violent red, most likely denoting which of their friends the bounty would be put after. "Hm, our suspicions were correct." If there was one person that could handle themselves, memory or no, it would be Mondo. She too reached forward and disappeared, leaving Hope's Peak empty once more.

* * *

Makoto hadn't quite known what to expect of the kingdoms that the Despair Magi had taken over, but if he had been forced to hazard a guess he would have thought they would look something like the place he was currently standing in. Stone structures with gashes and broken bricks upon the ground, with the destruction looking like it had been kept in that state since the first days of the invasion. It was still day out, but instead of natural sunlight the world was instead kept lit by the Monokuma moon which prevented any view of the sun. Too add to the creepy atmosphere was the cloud of purple mist that seemed to roll through the streets.

"Man, talk about depressing," he summoned his Focus and created a new clip of six Truth bullets before continuing forward onto the streets. Most of the kingdoms were built circularly, with each section of the kingdom split into different rings for different purposes and protected by walls meant to keep enemies and the random monster out. A quick look around revealed that he was close to the center of the ring, with the massive castle that had once belonged to the noble family that had ruled the kingdom now in a heavy state of disrepair, and covered more thickly in the purple fog then the streets. In fact it seemed to Makoto that the castle was actually spewing forth the fog.

Before he could continue his thought however a familiar 'Upupupup' was heard through the streets, causing him to duck for cover behind a particularly large bit of debris, just before a small squad of Monokuma could round the corner while leading a large group of prisoners. The Monokuma were rather odd, dressed in a mixture of nurse and doctor outfits with some carrying large syringes filled with a bright blue liquid inside of them. The people were even stranger, half of them looking healthy despite their captivity and the other half seemingly deathly ill, only able to walk due to the assistance of others.

And among the crowd was none other then the Magi of Martial Arts herself, Sakura Oogami. However the normally stoic and powerful young woman looked different, and it was most apparent in how she carried herself. Normally Sakura carried herself with purpose and a burning passion, a sort of underlining power that was almost strong enough to feel. Now she seemed to nervously glance around her as if the shadow she cast terrified her.

A loud bell rang throughout the streets and the Monokuma and their captives came to a screeching halt. "Well lookie what time it is," one of the Monokuma dressed as a doctor turned toward the crowd. "Time for one of you to get your dose of medicine, or was it poison today. Eh whatever too hard to keep track." Despite its words the syringe was clearly marked 'poison'. "Now I think we should pick ourselves a patient, enny meeny minny," the Monokuma pointed toward a young boy who was desperately clinging to his sister. "You."

The boy cried and Sakura stepped forward. "P-please just allow me to take the injection, sir." her voice was small and fragile, nothing like the strong warrior that had lived and breathed honor and strength.

"No can do Ogre, we have a method," two of the Monokuma grabbed the child and dragged him forward. "Now then, take your poison kiddo."

For his part Makoto had seen enough, stepping out from his hidding place and lifting his Focus in front of him. "Hey Monokuma!" the entire group turned to look at him, their eyes all flashing a dark red. "Sakura now while their distracted!" his plan was rather simple, turn the Monokuma's attention to him to create an opening for the Magi of Martial Arts to crush them. However instead of the instant reaction he had expected a flash of alarm came across her face.

"Well looks like the prey came to us boys," the Monokuma extended their razor sharp claws and moved toward him, ignoring the children now that their target was in sight. "Rip him open and find out what his guts look like!"

With no other options Makoto dipped back into the alleyway and slapped his hand on one of the walls, transfusing some of his power into it and disappearing around the corner. The second the group of Monokuma passed by the marked wall a massive explosion sprang forth and devoured most of the group, leaving the remaining summons weak enough for Makoto to pick off with four Truth bullets. Of course that little stunt left him well and drained. The talentless Magi created another four Truth bullets due to necessity, but at this rate he would only be able to make one more clip, maybe a barrier, and two of the new ammo that Kyouko had provided.

Banishing the worry from his mind for the moment the young man came back to the road and walked toward the group. "Is there a place we can hold up for a bit, I doubt that was the sum total of the Monokuma around and I would rather not be caught out here when they arrive."

A sickly old man gave a nod and told Makoto the directions to a still fairly intact church to one of the lesser deities that the people had worshiped. The door was solid oak but opened easily enough for them. The Monokuma summons would have a bit more difficulty if they tried however, due to special enchantments weaved into the building that harmed summons. Once they were there some of the people began to scatter to look for supplies, or to allow the sick to rest. Makoto for his part simply leaned against the wall and focused on regaining some of his mana. Normally just a small breather would allow him to regain some of his energy, but the heavy weight of the despair and pain around him made access to any part of the ether difficult.

The young man gave a sigh and opened his eyes, only to notice Sakura standing in front of him with a nervous expression. "Oh, hi there."

"Hello," Sakura looked at him for a moment, as if trying to figure something out about him through his appearance. "Back then, you called out my name."

"Yeah, I did." Makoto closed his eyes and tried to comb over his memories of the time he had spent with Sakura, hunting for anything that could possibly act as the trigger for her memories. "We were friends."

The larger woman closed her eyes and gave a solemn nod. "Yes, I have a certain feeling of kinship when I look at you, but beyond that I am unable to quite place you in my memories."

"Do you remember anything?" Makoto asked, looking at her with almost pleading eyes. He didn't think this would be as difficult as it was. He was being forced to see one of his friends, one who had been a pillar of strength and will, reduced to a frightened rabbit. "Kyouko, Byakuya...Aoi?"

That last name sent a flash of an unreadable emotion through her eyes, but it quickly dulled out. "I am sorry, I cannot summon a memory attached to those names either."

It seemed that whatever Junko had done to their memories was specifically made so only a memory tied to Makoto would actually be able to shatter the wall, the exact kind of insane rule that she would add to make life more difficult. "I guess that makes sense, but what happened?" he looked at her. "Even before you came to Hope's Peak you were one of the strongest Magi in the world, heck when you got really into it just standing near you felt like I was going to be crushed."

Sakura looked away, as if his words had been a physical slap. "My strength doesn't matter within the walls of this city, the creatures and the ruler of this place have made it clear that any attempt to fight back would end with the punishment of others..." her hair fell in front of her face, but did little to hide a tear sliding down her face. "The first time I made any attempt to fight back they...experimented on multiple children within the group I was attached too. Their deaths are on my hands...and I cannot fight with hands stained in the blood of children."

The reveal of just how far the world had fallen struck Makoto like a ton of bricks, rendering him utterly speechless for a moment as he tried to imagine just how dark a world Junko had created that the death of children could be seen as a passing event. Could any one person be so strong that the world couldn't stand up to them? "I didn't know, I am..." sorry didn't seem like the right word to use, in all of the words that Makoto knew none of them could properly reach out toward the level of pain she must have been experiencing.

Before their conversation could continue a massive booming voice rang throughout the city, a mad cackle followed by a voice that seemed on the verge of orgasmic pleasure. "Well seems we have a few rouge test subjects and a fun visitor from out of town, how exciting," a mad and girlish giggle came from the voice. "Allow me to properly welcome you and show how glad I am that you were able to visit us today," a scream of agony rang out over the streets. "That was one of over a thousand people I have stored here at this little castle, waiting to be tested with all sorts of little poisons. If you don't show up in front of my castle within the next five hours I will kill them all, and release a new potent fog upon the town to kill every single living person remaining. Think of it as a testament to how badly I want you on my operating table."

Makoto grit his teeth and pulled his hand into a fist to prevent himself from exploding in rage. The people that Junko had twisted were beyond any sort of human rationality so the murder of thousands of people just to get what they want wasn't utterly surprising, but the unfettered joy in her voice as she talked about it was chilling. "Damn." he had hoped that once he had arrived that maybe he would have more time to get Sakura's memories back, but it seemed fate had different ideas. Makoto stood and looked back to the crowd. "Everyone should stay here, no matter what happens the enchantments in this place should keep you safe." at least for awhile, but Makoto didn't want to burden them with that knowledge. With that said he moved toward the door, reaching out a hand only to have his arm grabbed by a familiar strong arm.

"I will not allow you to walk this path on your own," Sakura said, still a line of fear in her voice was holding enough will to make her intentions ironclad. "If the madwoman whose iron fist rules this kingdom will truly unleash a genocide such as this, then holding back my strength will do nothing to prevent it."

"Then I will put my faith in you," he gave her a small smile, a ghost of what used to come to his face when he made the expression. "Just like always."

She gave a stoic nod and turned back to the people, giving a bow to them. "I am truly sorry for my inaction, for the pain you have been forced to suffer while I stood idle, allow me to make this counterattack an apology."

The people for their part simple gave nods or mutters of 'good luck' without any real hope. They had been pushed too far for something like that.

With that done the two of them exited the church and made their way toward the center of the kingdom. "So then, what is our strategy?" Sakura asked as they made their way.

"I stand back and shoot stuff, you punch stuff really hard, and hopefully by the time this is over neither of us is dead." Makoto answered simply and truthfully.

"Very well." she responded.

For the rest of the time the two marched in silence, only broken when Makoto realized it was actually going to take them longer then expected to actually reach the castle. "So uh...whats with all of the purple mist in the air?"

"Its a special poison that enters the body and awaits a certain liquid to activate. Once it has the poison will slowly eat away at your internal organs until you receive the cure."

"Well," Makoto responded. "Now I wish I hadn't asked."

"It is indeed a horrible fate, one that has been inflicted on me quite often, not to such a degree that it becomes unbearable. The monsters seemed intent that I survive no matter how many others fell victim to their cruel actions." the young woman closed her eyes for a moment, haunted by the faces of those that had passed.

After that they fell into another uncomfortable silence before finally arriving at the castle itself, a massive fusion of stone and metal that towered over the other buildings within the kingdom. Surrounding it were hundreds of the doctor and nurse Monokuma, claws or syringes waiting in their palms. And standing above them from a balcony of the castle was the ruler of the twisted kingdom.

By all reports Mikan Tsumiki had been a quiet and kind girl before submitting herself to Junko's despair, always talking calmly and often so nervous that a simple conversation could bring her to tears. Any trace of that person had been erased by the image of the woman before them, who wore a half white and half black nurses uniform covered in dried blood, along with a medical mask to cover her mouth and lower face. "Our test subjects have arrived!" she shouted joyfully, waving her hand to the Monokuma. "Everyone give them a big hand for coming so promptly!"

The Monokuma began to clap in a mocking but unified way before coming to an abrupt halt.

"Now little ones, go forward and hold them down, I want to make sure to run plenty of experiments on them before they die!" Mikan blushed darkly and put a hand to her heart. "Oh all of the things I will do!"

"Sakura!" Makoto shouted out, drawing his weapon and aiming toward the wave of summons that charged toward them.

"Indeed, I will no longer allow this evil to go unchecked," the Magi of Martial Arts slammed her foot into the ground and readied herself into a fighting stance as the army of creatures approached. "Come now, and face me!"

Sakura was happily obliged by the wave of creatures that charged toward her, attacking like a wave of ants whose hive had been disturbed. For her part Sakura fought skillfully, each strike destroyed another of the summons and any who seemed to sneak past were quickly shot down by Makoto, who had already swapped out ammo cases. However the number of enemies was simply too great, and without knowledge of her training at Hope's Peak the Martial Arts Magi had already began to take strikes to her body. "My strength...it isn't enough."

Makoto looked fearfully toward the girl before a sudden flash of insight came to him, a memory of a simple conversation. "You got that wrong!" he leapt toward a Monokuma and struck it with his shoulder, driving it away before it could rain down another blow on Sakura. "Your strength isn't just tied to how powerful you are!"

Those words struck a cord with Sakura, pulling her away from the battle and into a memory, a memory that had been locked away.

* * *

"Hey Sakura, everyone is getting ready to go on the class picnic are you going to..." Makoto paused as he entered into the training room at Hope's Peak, caught by the sight of the carnage around him. The room had been designed to summon up creatures of ether in order to test the limits of the students combat abilities, and at most the students had faced maybe a handful of creatures at a time. Now however he saw the telltale signs of a massive battle, as if hundreds of creatures had been summoned only to be defeated, and standing in the center was a wounded by unflinching Sakura, hands still smoking from having used her abilities. "Wow."

Sakura turned her focus to Makoto, still emitting the same terrible presence that she often did while in battle, only calming it for a moment at seeing that he wasn't another enemy. "Ah Makoto, apologies for the state of the room, it seems my test might have gone a bit to far."

"No its cool just...man you really are amazing Sakura, honestly I can't imagine anyone being half this strong." his words were honest and sincere, seeing the sight of such power gave him a rather clear view of just how divided he was from the other members of the school.

A light blush dusted the larger woman's cheeks as she looked over the destruction. "I am flattered by your estimation of my abilities, but you are wrong in your assessment. There is indeed one that is stronger then me, a man who had such strength that even my memory of it forces me to tremble, and despite all my training it seems I cannot reach that level."

"Oh," Makoto was unsure of how to respond, the idea of someone who could match Sakura's abilities was almost a bit scary. "Well anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to come join the rest of us on a class picnic. I know you aren't really interested in the normal class activities outside of combat training but it could be a lot of fun. We are planning a prank on Byakuya that could be pretty funny."

The girl simply gave a shake of her head. "Apologies, but I believe I will stay here. Until I find a method to increase my strength to greater heights such frivolous things must be put aside."

"Oh," disappointment was evident in Makoto's voice, after all the rest of the class had given him the job of trying to invite Sakura with them, saying that since it was his idea that they go for a class picnic he should be the one to ask her. "But didn't you say that it wasn't helping?"

"It simply means I must try harder to increase my power." she answered simply.

Something about the ways she said that struck a cord in Makoto, and before he could stop himself he responded with. "But what if your training is the thing holding you back?"

Her gaze turned to him, and suddenly the young man felt as if death's shadow had passed over him. "Explain."

"Well its just," the boy summoned his Focus and looked at it. "Back when I was first learning to use magic I tried my hardest to get stronger just so I could come to this Academy and train with the best of the best, but no matter what I did nothing got me to be anything more then ordinary," he turned his gaze to lock with hers and smiled. "But then I got here and met everyone, and suddenly I didn't want to be stronger just to be stronger or to get here, I want to be better so that I can stand with all of you with pride."

Sakura closed her eyes for a moment and shook her head. "Your spirit is impressive, but I do not see how..."

"Let me explain, I think that maybe you are so focused on beating this guy that you forgot any other reasons you might have had to be stronger. Like once you do beat him and prove you are the strongest what would you do next?"

"Next?" the idea had never occurred to Sakura, whose strength had become almost an identity to itself for her.

"Yeah, I mean maybe what's holding you back is that you know once you reach that peak there isn't much else to do. Or maybe its just that your power isn't just your strength," he smiled toward her. "I mean when you talk with someone after a match you seem to be a really nice person, and your strength and kindness make you a good person. Maybe your goal of just defeating someone is holding your real strength back."

"My real strength..." Sakura looked down at her fist for a moment, caught in a moment of thought. It was true that her dream to defeat Kenichirou had consumed her mind, but the idea that was holding her back never came to her mind. "And what would you suggest?"

Makoto gave a good natured shrug. "Find a reason to get strong that you feel drives the real you, and then pursue it. Thats what I did and look at how much better I got since I started here."

Sakura had to concede the point that the boy who stood before her was no longer the same weak Magi who had arrived at the gates with the rest of them on that first day. "I see, a reason to get stronger beyond my desires."

"Something like that anyway, heh maybe its nonsense but who knows." Makoto turned around to leave the room.

"Wait," Sakura suddenly called out. "Could you...ask the others to wait while I go to the showers, I think I might join you after all."

"Awesome, just make sure to not open the third basket, that is Byakuya's 'gift'." he gave her a sly wink before leaving the room.

Sakura smiled to herself and shook her head. "Hm, a new reason."

* * *

When Sakura awoke from the memory her eyes began to burn with a new passion, and from her body sprang a well of new energy that radiated off her like fire from wood. "I have found it!" she yelled out, her power utterly obliterating a battalion of Monokuma around her.

Makoto gave a fierce smile and dodged out of the way of the battlefield, knowing that the Sakura before him had regained her memory.

"The drive that pushes me forward is this, I will reclaim this world from despair and make a world where people can be happy once more, that is what my strength is!" she let out a primal roar as her power expanded outward like a wave of fire, obliterating hundreds of Monokuma from her mere presence. "Hear me well follower of Despair, your defeat is here!"

Mikan took a step back from the wave of heat that struck the castle. "Oh that is way too scary for me." she said in a small chuckle, raising her hand into the air. "Trial Field, set!" a dome of energy began to expand around them.

"I will not allow that, Trial Field Takeover!" Sakura roared out as her own field began to manifest, clashing against Mikans and utterly crushing it before it devoured Makoto and Mikan into it.

The location they arrived in was a massive dojo with walls lined with various weapons and scrolls. "Within this Trial Field combat is law, and only the strongest will leave victorious," Sakura cracked her knuckles and looked toward the smaller woman. "Will you surrender or continue this farce?"

Mikan looked at Sakura for a moment before letting out a deep and mad laugh, pulling forth a syringe filled with black liquid from within one of her pockets. "Surrender? No my mission from the one I love is to spread despair," she jammed the needle into her neck and began to laugh slowly. "And your despair will come from the taste of dirt once I smash your head into the ground!" the woman clutched her stomach and bent over as if in pain as her body began to expand, new muscles simply appearing on her form. That was hardly the end to the alternations however, her body grew to tower over even Sakura's, and her nails grew and hardened until they looked like claws, her hair grew long enough to touch the ground, and even her mask ripped away to reveal rows of sharpened teeth and an elongated tongue. "This is my super steroid, using it allows me to draw intense amounts of power from the ether and increase all of my abilities a thousand fold!" her voice was deeper now, befitting her new form.

"A terrible enemy, but your power is only a false one, will you stand with me Makoto?" she asked, turning back to her friend.

"Like you have to ask," Makoto reloaded his weapon with the final normal clip he could create and aimed toward the creature that had once been the greatest Medical Magi.

The beast leapt forward with claws raised, met by Sakura's fist and creating a stalemate between the two, each trying to overpower each other. Their clash was interrupted by Makoto firing three of his shots into the creatures side, distracting it long enough to allow Sakura to step back and deliver a kick so powerful that is pushed Mikan back a few feet and leave an indent in her stomach. However the wound shifted for a moment and disappeared.

"Pathetic, your attacks will simply disappear from my body so long as my medicine flows through my body. No matter what you do it is pointless!" she rushed forward to Makoto but was intercepted by Sakura, striking the creatures side with a powerful blow that simply seemed to annoy it. In a counter attack Mikan swung her clawed hand directly toward Sakura, who attempted to block it with her forearm that she had coated with her fiery aura. But even the creatures claws after only a moments effort managed to cut through and deliver a painful gash to Sakura's arm, forcing her into a retreat.

Seeing something able to so easily toss Sakura aside caused a wave of panic to go through Makoto, but he stood his ground and fired his last three bullet's into Mikan's head in hopes of drawing away its attentions from his wounded friend. "Hey, pick on someone half your size!"

With the creatures attention turned to himself it never saw Sakura come from behind it, bringing her arms up and locking the creatures before leaning back and delivering a powerful powerbomb straight to the floor of the dojo, making the entire room shake from the impact. Sakura disengaged and moved back next to Makoto as Mikan attempted to regain her balance. "She is quite formitable, and her ability to heal prevents any of our attacks from being effective."

"Yeah..." Makoto looked at their enemy for a moment, looking for a crack or chip in her power that would give them an effective opening. A flash of inspiration struck him and a smile played over her face. "Sakura I can give us a small window of opportunity for you to hit her, so I need you to make it the most powerful thing you can do."

"A single move killing technique, I suppose I can provide something akin to that." she took her stance. "How will I know your signal?" she asked.

"Well, if it works then hopefully it will be obvious." with that said Makoto drew the rest of his power into creating a single bullet into his gun and charging forward toward the Mikan while she was still dazed. "Hey!"

Mikan drew her gaze to him, bloodshot eyes filled with murderous intent, roaring at him like a primal beast.

"Eat this!" Makoto pushed his Focus forward and fired his prepared ammo, a Truth bullet that struck the center of her mouth and caused her to make a few steps back in obvious discomfort. For a moment nothing seemed to happen, but then all at once Mikan's body began to shake and twist as the magic within the injection was destabilized by the effects of Makoto's special ammo.

Before Mikan could focus in on the world around her Sakura was already in front of her, the Martial Arts Magi's aura glowing a brilliant blue. "Shatter," with that said the young woman's fists began to move faster then the human eye could track, striking at hundreds of points along Mikan's body in the span of mere seconds, a loud cry following each strike. Once the assault was finished Sakura jumped back and crossed her arms.

Mikan began to step forward but her body began to at random expand and shrink. "What...did...you...do..." the Despair Acolyte cried out.

"Hm, do you not realize?" Sakura closed her eyes. "You are already dead."

Mikan's eyes grew wide as suddenly her entire body collapsed into itself before exploding outward if a geyser of pink liquid, a final scream accompanying her agony.

With the final blow struck the Trial Field lowered, leaving Mikan human once more, but forcing her to collapse to the floor as the bonds of magic rendered her unable to move. "How, how could I be defeated by some brute!"

Makoto shook his head. "You are wrong, Sakura's power isn't just raw physical strength."

"He is correct, my power is the burning drive I have to see my friends protected, against a selfish desire like yours there wasn't a way for me to lose." Sakura crossed her arms and looked down toward the defeated Magi. "Now what shall we do with her?"

Before Makoto could form an answer a portal was ripped open to her side, out from which stepped Izuru, holding a black and silver scythe in his hands. "Hm, trash." he muttered as he looked down upon Mikan.

"Mistress Junko sent you to save me," Mikan looked up toward Izuru with a child like smile on her face. "I knew that she wou-" before she could finish her statement Izuru put the blade of his scythe against her neck, dragging her away into the portal before Makoto or Sakura could make a move to stop it.

As soon as the two disappeared the massive Monokuma Moon above them projected an image to the entire world, showing Mikan sitting at a small desk in the center of a large room. "M-Mistress Junko I am so sorry for my failure, don't worry I will do better next time!"

Izuru appeared in front of her and dropped three syringes in front of her. "Hm, failure such as yours isn't tolerated within our ranks, prove that you are still worthy."

A green gas began to fill the room, and Mikan's panicked expression gave knowledge to those that watched that the gas was most likely some kind of poison. She quickly began to examine the three syringes, but already a green hint began to play against her skin, showing the poison was working. She quickly injected the first into her arm, which caught fire and caused her to panic. The second was injected into her leg, which instantly rotted off into a puddle of slime. The poison was taking even more effect now, with almost her entire body covered in either it or flares. "Mistress Junko!" she lifted the last syringe and jammed it into her throat, and all of the effects seemed to stop. "I knew you wouldn't ki-" before she found finish her entire body exploded, leaving only scattered limbs and empty syringes.

Makoto looked at the image in a state of shock, while Sakura simply lowered her head in acknowledgement of a strong enemy. Before they could truly process what they had seen people began to flood the streets, cheering and calling out for them. The castle which had been pouring out the purple mixture suddenly stop its production, and despite the Monokuma Moon preventing any real sunlight from bathing the streets the mist that had ruled it dissipated and left the world slightly brighter.

The two looked mostly uncomfortable at the praise they were getting, especially after seeing such a murderous scene. But only after a few moment a portal opened behind them, revealing Hope's Peak to them. "We have to go!" Makoto told the people. "But with the Despair finished this place is yours once more, remember to make something of it, and when Junko falls we will be back to help!"

The people gave a final cheer as the two walked toward the portal. "That was well said, truly befitting a warrior such as yourself." Sakura told him.

"Yeah, now lets make good on it and end this nightmare." Makoto stepped through the portal, knowing that ahead was the only way to go. One down, thirteen to go.

* * *

A billion thank yous to my wonderful editor TheAlmightyOneofLegends for beta reading my fic. Its because of him you don't have to suffer through too many typos.

Make sure to follow, favorite, and drop a review if you enjoyed the fic. Also if you are interested in trying to pick who might be the next person Makoto goes after there is a poll on my profile.


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